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Architect Special Interest Group November 2016 (pm)

In this session we looked at creating a site model, creating site modifies, roads, site model snapshot, and site modifies.

00:11 site modifies need 3D data and it does not matter with the you use 3D loci, stake objects, or 3D polygons, and you can use a combination of all of these objects. For a quick site model, information was pasted from another location. But to show you how you could use a combination of these things, a poly line was drawn and then converted to a 3D polygon.

02:15 brief explanation of how Vectorworks calculates a site model. Vectorworks calculates a site model using the Triangulated Integrated Network (TIN). Because of this Vectorworks make some assumptions about the change in elevation between spot levels (calculates a straight fall between spot levels).

03:33 selecting the 3D data to create a site model.

03:41 creating a site model. There are several settings when you create a site model, so it is important to look through the settings and make sure that you understand what they all relate to. We looked at the contour intervals, the maximum and minimum elevations, and we looked at the graphic properties. We look to the graphic properties we also use classes to control the graphic style of the site model.

07:13 after creating the site model we viewed it in 3D and assigned textures to the site model. The Vectorworks Resource Manager has access to several grass textures that are appropriate. When you apply a texture to site model, the Object Info palette does not give you the ability to dynamically scale the texture, but you can choose to edit the resource from the Object Info palette. This will change the texture everywhere that it has been applied. This is the same effect as if you edited the texture directly from the Resource Manager.

10:20 editing the site model crop using the Reshape tool, entering the site model crop area and changing the location of the labels on the site model contours.

13:02 adding a to the site model using the Railing/Fence tool. If you change the crop area of the site model to just the boundary, it makes it easy to place the fence in 3D on the boundary line.

14:26 creating a snapshot of the site that will show the existing site model. A snapshot is linked to the original site model information and it will update as you update the site model. In this example we set the site model to the existing, which means that when we create a snapshot, as snapshot will show the existing site model not the proposed. This will allow us to have two views of the site model, one showing existing, one showing proposed.

15:26 adding site modifies to the site, starting off by using the Roadway (custom kerb). The custom kerb allows you to create roadways that change width and you can also use Add Surface to join polygons to the custom kerb

26:58 using a Site Modifier (pad) to create foundations for building. As well as creating the pad, we also need to create a Grade Limits that will limit the change to the site. when you create a Site Modifier you can choose whether that site modify has been applied to the existing site or the proposed site. The cut and fill calculations are always placed on the difference in volume between the existing site model and the proposed site model, therefore it is important that you assign your site modifies to the correct site model.

31:44 creating a pad with retaining edge. This type of pad does not require a grade limits, which can make it faster to draw. However, if you use several pads with retaining edge together, the results might not be what you are expecting. In that case just make sure you use regular pads and put a grade limits around all of the site modifies.

39:10 if you assign a record format to each site modifier, you can then create a report that lists all the information from each site modifier. You do not have to use the record format to create the report, but the record format allows us to assign a name to each site modifier. You could of course use classes to collect the site modifiers for reporting, but in this case we have chosen to use a record format and create a report that shows the name of each site modify and it is cut and fill volume.

47:38 when you look at the snapshot of the site model you will see the existing terrain and any site modifiers that have been assigned to the existing site model will also appear on the snapshot.

48:18 when we set up as snapshot we dragged the snapshot across to the left, but this puts the snapshot out of alignment with the main site model. An alternative would be to assign the snapshot to a new layer and make sure that the two site models were aligned.

50:18 using the roadway to create a footpath (sidewalk).

Architect November 2016 pm

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